Emergency! (1972)

Watchseries; In a way, Jack Webb cloned his Adam-12 success with this series in 1972. The setting & cast are different, I mean how can anyone with a colorful name like Randolph Mantooth fail? The regulars on this series provided some spark for sure as like the Adam-12 team they provided some of the spark for this show too.

Another similar thing is the action. Being set in a fire house & on the streets often on calls, Emergency has it's fair share of action sequences. Most of them are very well done too. One difference between this & Adam-12 is that it is set in a 60 minute format so the stories could be bigger & more extensive.

This had to be an easy sell to NBC execs, as you have the experienced Jack Webb production team who seems to endlessly come up with good action stories & endlessly keeps finding cast members that play off each other well. This show was a very good show.

Once again, rerun heaven for it might be established once it is released on DVD, as it might pick up some fans.

In a way, Jack Webb cloned his Adam-12 success with this series in 1972. The setting & cast are different, I mean how can anyone with a colorful name like Randolph Mantooth fail? The regulars on this series provided some spark for sure as like the Adam-12 team they provided some of the spark for this show too.

Another similar thing is the action. Being set in a fire house & on the streets often on calls, Emergency has it's fair share of action sequences. Most of them are very well done too. One difference between this & Adam-12 is that it is set in a 60 minute format so the stories could be bigger & more extensive.

This had to be an easy sell to NBC execs, as you have the experienced Jack Webb production team who seems to endlessly come up with good action stories & endlessly keeps finding cast members that play off each other well. This show was a very good show.

Once again, rerun heaven for it might be established once it is released on DVD, as it might pick up some fans.

Emergency! watchseries. The beginning of the show, in the Wedsworth-Townsend Act, everything is quiet, your seeing the fire trucks, then you go up the pole, see all of the fireman and then, breaking the silence, the big loud fire alarm blasts waking not only you but also the fireman up. The fire trucks race to the scene and you can sense what the show is like from there. Johnny and Roy are one of the most memorable characters from the jokes to the rescues and then to serious matters, you can always know that they are ready for anything. The hospital always packs all kinds of scenarios from a lady getting stuck to a toilet seat to a doctor in Rampart Emergency dieing of a heart attack, the hospital always has something either unusual or something serious to show you. When squad 51 goes out on a rescue Johnny and Roy immediately start to provide the best medical care, they flip open the biophone, they get the information and they administer the drugs. After watching a couple of episodes of Emergency, you will never want to stop watching it. Buying Emergency! on DVD would be one of the greatest investments you ever made.

I remember this show as a youngster and loved it. I could not wait until it came on ABC Thursdays (I believe) and crammed to finish homework before it aired. I have not seen it in syndication yet but think it would be a good show for one of the retro tv stations to replay.

E! is my favorite show in the world. I love the life at the firehouse, especially when poor Johnny gets hit with water balloons!! I also love the silly rescues- kid getting his hand stuck in a gum ball machine or guys getting stuck in the couch. those are funny. I love this show and anyone should watch it! Especially the episode "Snakebite" A great "johnny Owie" one!!! And the defibrillator RULES!!! LOL

Emergency is airing, now, very late at night, on the local TV station. And it's great to see it again. Before Baywatch, this show gave us a much more realistic look at the daily lives of those who respond when we call 911.

Although some of the technology and terminology is outdated now, most of it is surprisingly still in use! The dramatic component..that rescues don't always succeed..is refreshingly real in comparison to Baywatch, where CPR always works and no one dies unless their character has to be killed off. But the humour is there too, just as it is in the locker rooms of firehalls and police stations all over.

A minor comment about Gage's lack of musical abilities prompts him to take up the bagpipes, among other instruments, and the ongoing practical jokes played by Kelly add greatly to the humanity of the show. In fact, I strongly suspect that most of the incidents portrayed on the show actually happened.. Most of them are far too ridiculous to have been invented by some writer!

A great show from days gone by...if only they'd do as well now..

One of my best-remembered shows as a kid. What set this show apart from its predecessors was in drawing respect from the audience for the firefighters it portrays; for the first time the paramedics, doctors and firefighters didn't arrive to wave a magic wand putting the fire out and saving the patient. The range of (at the time) operating medical and CB radio procedures and terminology, the open identification with real-time Los Angeles and the range of rescue situations faced by Station 51 and their paramedics showed how thorough Jack Webb's research and commitment to authenticity was, pushing the benefits of the paramedic program in the face of a skeptical California state government; as a concerned West Coast citizen with an eye on the Big One he probably knew this was an important step forward in public health that would save many, many lives when that day inevitably arrived. Rescue 911, ER, Law & Order, Third Watch, Cops; the entire medical and police reality television genre can trace their origins to Emergency! and once a compatible DVD box set for Australian players arrives I'll have it to reminisce with too.